I think 28 schools have reach the Elite 8 since Underwood has been at Illinois. Again, his March performance is way below expectations.
Wisconsin 91, Illinois 88 OT Postgame
- Status
blackdog
- Champaign
A big frustration I've had especially recently is not posting up Tomi and David enough. They are both good post players and can pass out as well. Sometimes when we need to change it up it would be nice to go to that instead of trying to rely on penetration from the perimeter.
For me it’s two guys …
Nate Oats … Todd Golden …
Nate being the one where he’s not exactly been quiet to certain people that he could be looking for a move … One where he doesn’t have to beg to get P Murph more money or beg for more NIL …
If you told me today that Nate Oats is willing to come here … Which he’s told me multiple times it’s an elite job and would get him back to the Midwest which is what he wants …
Call me crazy … I’m making the move if this season doesn’t result in a 2nd weekend …
Boswell and Andrej shot three 3 point shots on Friday. They made 2. Not certain where you are coming from.
Why would Todd leave everything he has at Florida for Illinois. He just won the natty and is in the mix big time this year too
We can get Todd Golden?
Here’s the deal. If Todd golden is actually attainable for Illinois, then that’s a Josh Whitman problem for being asleep at the wheel and this isn’t a Brad underwood convo.
I have serious doubts we could just go get Todd golden.
I had a lot of fun watching those teams. I got a lot out of it. Also, I know that the best way to go further in the bracket is to keep going to the tournamen with low numbers next to your name. Brad’s doing that. I also know that that is far more likely to continue with Brad than with another coach. Most new coach’s, even the hot names, fail to meet expectations.
He actively tried to leave Florida after winning the national championship last year … Wasn’t the right opportunity …
We’d likely have to offer more from a financial perspective … But you want a national championship caliber coach ? That’s what it costs …
You said “more than one” so how many is it?
I agree the postseason success since Covid has been below what I’d expect, but what is the sample size we are grading on here (# of games)?
I am missing that one We were 26 - 39 from 2 point - and 62% of our shots were from inside. To get those iso's we have to take 3 point shots. Otherwise our bigs will get doubled every time they touch the ball. We lost the game because we were outrebounded and shot 9-15 from the line. Change either of those stat lines in by +1 in regulation and we win.
Tendencies. Everybody has them and you make adjustments from them so when they’re scouted, game planned, and schemed you have an alternative to run for it.
Wagler’s tendencies have been on tape and his little hesitations on the lane are well known. His inability to elevate are known. The way he made light work of switching bigs on him and his putting them in a mixer or finding room to get off a shot off
was good stuff. But, when Michigan put bigger, faster, more athletic guys on him like Luxembourg and Morez at the top of the key, the game plan to equalize him and make the rest of the team beat you is how Illinois is challenged.
Understand. Would you of paid 2 million for Dent (looks like he is turning it on at the right time)
2.8 million for Toppin he got injured and is now done for the season
2 million for Jayden Quaintance
Just because you spend a lot of money doesn’t mean you will be a top 10 team
Top 10 men's college basketball players with highest NIL valuations | Fox Sports
Cooper Flagg reportedly earned a staggering amount of money at Duke. Who could be next in line? Here are the 10 most valuable men's college basketball players, per On3.
Would Josh be willing to make that move? I doubt it.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
I would take either of those two coaches in a heartbeat, if our team did not get to second weekend. However, it better be a guarantee they take the job.
I am still hoping something clicks next week. There is talent, but well documented deficiencies as well. However, each of the two teams we would see next week will have the same issues. No excuses, next week is the biggest week of the Underwood era.
Fair points. And not to “yes, but” but:
1. We have won 2 BTT Titles, a shared regular season title and we’ve made an E8. Maybe not enough but not nothing either.
2. That Ayo/Kofi team really did win the championship. If you pull up the final standings for that year we finished 1/2 game ahead of Michigan. The only reason Michigan technically won the championship is because no one knew what the Covid season would look like so all agreed we would award the championship based on winning %. Naturally Michigan took a once in a century pandemic to game the system and refuse to play 3 games, including refusing to play our game as originally scheduled when the Michigan women played. All of that forced us to play a condensed schedule while giving them a typical schedule.
3. Zach Edey was a historically dominant college basketball player. Saying we should have won a conference title during those 2-3 years is a bit like holding it against Barkley, Ewing etc for never beating the Jordan Bulls.
4. This year we went 15-5 which is good enough for a share most years, but this year Michigan was historically good. Actually amazing we finished tied for second given our untimely injuries.
5. This year ain’t over yet! I will agree we haven’t played well in going on one month, but, still the only game we were clearly outplayed was the historically good Michigan team. UCLA and Wisconsin are both pretty clearly should have wins given we had 15+ leads in each. And both of those teams are playing really good ball as evidenced by the fact that both are still playing today. If we make the S16 I think we can still call this season a success. And if we find out shooting stroke we could go a heck of a lot farther. We aren’t trending well but we’ve seen teams that are absolutely rolling lose early and we’ve seen underachieving teams snap into form and go on runs in March all the time. Let’s see what happens in the next couple weeks.
Honest question…Can Kevin Kruger not draw up a play? When they hired him I thought “oh good, a little help with the in-game tactician stuff” And someone Brad will surely listen to?)
Also…people are frustrated with our defense. I get it. At times it has been QUITE effective. (Let’s not forget what we had last year.) It truly is MUCH improved under Crocker.
I think it’s hilarious too. For years people were scolded for even bringing up the word zone. No, one runs a zone.” “Takes too much time to teach…” “It doesn’t work in today’s game” blah blah…blah…
And that was mostly because Brad isn’t a zone guy. Then we hire a “ defensive specialist” and he implements a secondary zone and various half court press looks…lol
And don’t even tell me we aren’t better with Crocker than we would have been. It’s just that all that height comes at a cost…it’s lack of athleticism. One days what you can sometimes…
(Also people are just figuring us out at this stage in the season.)
Last edited:
Same reason why Lon Kruger left. Florida is still a football school no matter how well their bb team is or does. Illinois should move heaven and earth and try and poach Todd G the same way Kansas poached Self 23 years ago. If we cannot get Golden, maybe hire Michigan assistant Michael Boyton and keep Underwood jr. as an assistant coach running the offense. Boyton can coach defense. He can also recruit as he showed at Okie State, especially landing Cunningham. I realize Okie State was mediocre under Boyton but the program still is mediocre two years under the new coach. There was a reason Brad left Okie State for Illinois. If not Boyton then check on Big 12 coaches like Nate Oats or McCasland from Texas Tech. Both are much younger than Brad and can recruit.
I think with Tomi and Mirk, we would welcome the double teams because they're such great passers.
In a game like yesterday that went to overtime, any number of little things could've made the difference - one more free throw, one more rebound, etc.
But over a 9 game stretch where we're 4-5, there's probably something a little more systemic at play. Maybe playing through the bigs a little more would help? Especially when we need to stop a run and Keaton is gassed.
I don't know. I think we're all just searching for answers right now. Fans, players, and coaches included.
- Status